Fiery young guitarist Selwyn Birchwood: a graduate degree in blues

Friday

Aug 22, 2014 at 6:34 PMAug 22, 2014 at 6:37 PM

By Jay MillerFor The Patriot Ledger

Talk about your protean man. Selwyn Birchwood was performing as many shows as he could with his blues band, working a fulltime day job, and striving towards an MBA from University of Tampa, all at the same time.

That day job didn't go anywhere, but Birchwood got that graduate degree, and his blues band did pretty well too, winning the 2013 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, and gaining a record deal with one of the country's premier blues labels, Chicago's Alligator Records. Birchwood's major label debut, "Don't Send No Ambulance," is just out on Alligator, and he'll be fronting his quartet at two area gigs this Saturday.

Birchwood will be performing in a double-bill with the legendary Guitar Shorty at the RegattaBar in Harvard Square, Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. (All tickets $25, check www.regattabarjazz.com for details). Earlier, on Saturday afternoon, Birchwood will be playing at The 9th Annual Summit Music Festival in Lippitt Park in East Providence. That free outdoor fest goes from 1-6 p.m., and is headlined by the Brooklyn jazz-funk octet Red Baraat, while Birchwood expects to play at approximately 2:30 p.m.

That college schedule doesn't sound like it left much time for rest and recreation.

"I was playing, studying, and working a fulltime job too," Birchwood said with a sigh from his Florida home. "I basically lived off of espresso, and never slept. Now I look back and I really don't know how I did it. That's one reason I really appreciate what we have now. I have had 'day jobs' all my life, so, no matter what we run into while playing music, I definitely appreciate being able to get out there and play every night."

Birchwood had taken up guitar at about age 13, and was soon fascinated by the music of Jimi Hendrix. That led him back into the blues, and one night he went to a Buddy Guy concert, having seen Guy cited as a Hendrix influence. Blown away by a typically intense Guy performance, the teenage Birchwood decided to devote himself to the blues.

Later on, someone mentioned that a neighbor was a bluesman, the Texas native Sonny Rhodes, and Birchwood went over and began jamming with the veteran. A few months later, Rhodes invited the 19-year old kid out on tour with his band. That made for a quick education in the real world of the touring musician, and helped solidify Birchwood's desire to get an education.

"I didn't know what was out there," said Birchwood. "All I knew was that I loved Sonny Rhodes' music. Sonny kind of snickered at me, 'You're going to have some miles on you when I get done.." That certainly got through to me right away, as our first show was in Calgary, and we drove straight through from Orlando. It was a great teaching tool for me to go forty hours in a van--and still not be even halfway there! I think it ended up being an 85-hour trip, the longest I ever drove. But Sonny gave me a quick education in what a touring musician's life involved, and how to be a band leader."

"After touring with Sonny for a few years, it didn't sway me away from music," noted Birchwood. "I had seen how hard it could be, but I also knew there was nothing I would rather be doing. That did fuel the fire to get my education though, because when you look at all the talented people out there, you realize not everyone gets the opportunities they deserve. That's where going to school and having something to fall back on came in. I wanted to be prepared whether or not we made it in music--if it was easy, everyone would be doing it."

It surely isn't easy to forge your own individual path in the blues, where fresh new sounds are necessary to grab young fans, but may, at the same time, alienate purists. Birchwood, whose father was from Tobago and mother from the United Kingdom, revered blues giants like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, but also had an open mind about new possibilities. He not only writes compelling songs rooted in contemporary life, but he has developed a band sound that is especially unique, partly because he frequently also plays lap steel guitar too. Besides the in-the-pocket rhythm section of drummer Curtis Nutall and bassist Donald "Huff" Wright, Birchwood's quartet is filled out by Regi Oliver, who is most often playing baritone sax.

While Oliver also adds tenor and alto sax, flute, and bass clarinet to certain songs, the presence of the bari-sax underlying most songs gives them a heft, a depth and visceral edge. With Birchwood's own lived-in baritone vocals, the band sounds unlike every other blues band, yet with almost subliminal echoes of that vintage Muddy Waters gravitas.

"I just tried different things when I was making the record," Birchwood related. "We all have our personal preferences, and we try to utilize all our abilities. Regi plays a ton of instruments, which is perfect for us. I don't necessarily write my songs looking for individual things, or instruments on them, but we like to experiment with stuff. I love that idea of 'Here's something you haven't heard before.' I love the blues but I do NOT want to be one of those bands just rehashing the past, doing things that have already been done."

"Let's face it," added Birchwood. "People like Muddy Waters, Bukka White, and Hound Dog Taylor were so good at what they did, nobody is ever going to top that music. We want to do what we do, and come at blues from a different angle, a fresh new approach."

Birchwood's music might strike some as blues-rock in many places, but then he'll hit you with a slow blues like "Brown Paper Bag," a nine-minute epic where his vocals are just as riveting as his poignant guitar work. A number like "Hoodoo Stew" shows how he's updated and rock-ified that Hound Dog Taylor slide influence. And how many folks today can relate to "Overworked and Underpaid"?

"Writing my songs, I try and keep an even balance between traditional and non-traditional elements," said Birchwood. "In our live shows, I will put more traditional stuff in there, and talk about it, because I know not everybody in the crowd has uniform ears, or the same tastes. I try to develop a repertoire of different styles for our live shows. I am a blues lover, but above all, I'm a music lover. I like it all, from bluegrass to jazz, country, metal, even show tunes. I think all those elements end up going into what we do. Committing it to record, we're trying to produce a fresh sound; maybe taking a familiar style, but do it totally differently."

"Brown Paper Bag" came about from my talking with older musicians," Birchwood revealed. "I might've been drinking a beer, on one of those tours when I was younger, and they were telling me 'Don't get into that, it's ruined so many good musicians.' So that song is a warning, that drinking and stuff like that can take over your life and cripple your career if you don't watch out. 'Overworked and Underpaid' was a song I wrote right after being fired from a day job--I went home and thought about it, and decided I never liked that job anyway. Even before I was performing, blues music was my therapy--it clears my mind and makes me feel better."

Birchwood and his band have been trying to bust out of the Florida scene for a while, and winning that IBC last year seems to have finally done the trick. But this will be his first gig at the RegattaBar, and also his first time sharing a stage with Guitar Shorty--that pairing is only appearing at the Cambridge club, and a theater in Sellersville, Pennsylvania this week.

"Winning the IBC has been a huge jump ahead for us," said Birchwood. "We had really been working hard in Florida, and trying to get out of Florida. I was doing the booking and it was hard to get clubs to take a chance on an unknown band. All of us have toured with other bands, but we are all determined to keep this lineup together and take it as far as we can. Now it seems everybody's ears are open to us, once they hear we are IBC winners, and it's been pretty exciting."

Things are moving fast for Selwyn Birchwood, so fans might be advised to catch him now, while they can still hear him in a club this size.